Buttons and scroll wheels cost more than touchscreens at this point… 90s me wanted touchscreens on everything, and me since maybe 2015? has been firmly “bring back buttons”

…whenever they started replacing useful things that SHOILD be buttons always (car) with touch things. Absolutely not bueno.

I read on a kindle on my bed before going to sleep, and everytime I stretch or turn over the font size changes or it advances a couple of pages. It's slowly driving me insane.

It’s a fact? It has no buttons. God or bad

Because buttons take space, reducing space available for the screen that has, well, the book.

The good sensor is the answer, IMO. I only wonder how should it turn on and off, then.

I actually just got one of these things (https://www.xteink.com/products/xteink-x4) that has a 4" screen (WITH BUTTONS) for $55 on Amazon and I kinda love it. I think my perfect phone would be something this size with GrapheneOS support and a headphone jack.

Yeah that seems like a really uncomfortably small screen to read on.

I recently picked up an Xteink X4 for $55. Flashed the Crosspoint firmware on it. Crosspoint just works and has no bloat. I love being able to set the device and send books via the self-hosted web interface. Sending books via wifi from Calibre works too.

Buttons on the reader are nice. I actually prefer not having a touchscreen for something so small. I do wish it had a front light though. This turned out to be the less-expensive-non-Android-just-an-ereader alternative to Boox that I was searching for. Loving it so far.

And you have open firmware for it: https://hackaday.com/2026/04/05/pocket-sized-e-ink-gets-a-firmware-upgrade/

brushes against the screen "What the hell did I just hit? Where is my screen?"

taps against the spot 50 times "Respond!!"

I've had a Kobo Clara BW for about 2 years. I use it almost every day and I love it. I think it was about $140 when I bought it. They go for $160 now, but I think the bigger screen makes it a better buy than this e-reader. I love crowd-funded projects, but Kobo is a better option, imho.

One never knows. Better to have alternatives today than to hope nothing goes downhill in the future.

Nothing. I love my Kobo, I take it everywhere and it has a literal zero amount of enshittification. You can set it to sideloaded mode by connecting it to your PC which totally hides the store and Kobo's online features. I manage my books in Calibre.

But XTEINK is actively working to combat the flashing of open source software. It seems they had a spike in sales and interest due to their affordable hardware, but if they continue to lock aftermaket software out tech savvy people will be looking for different options.

Update: I just saw that CrossPoint has has an affiliate link, and that if you buy the reader direct from the manufacture you can still get unlocked USB devices. It's only on the international stores like AliExpress that you may get a crippled version. https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader